Don't fly free please

I am at heart a nature lover, but when the budgie escapes, it needs to fly free away from the eyes of casual onlookers, my own included.

I was on a cruise ship, enjoying the pool at the front of the boat. The sign said that this was a child free area and so those lounging about its perimeter were well practised at the universal glare should anyone under the age of 18 enter this hallowed space.

I have to admit there were one or two illiterate children who strayed into the area, but in reality their main impact was to lower the average age of the bathers to about 79.

It was actually a pleasure to see that there were among us at least some with bathing suits and skin that were unwrinkled.

But not our budgie boy. I think by now my more astute readers might realise that the budgie I am referring to is often linked to the word ‘smuggler’. But there were no stow-away smugglers aboard this vessel. No sirree. This was a bird that was flying free.

It did cause a little bit of a ruckus in the pool, the woman next to me whispering away and enquiring whether I had seen what she had seen. I told her that I believed I had, but I had looked and then looked quickly away, all the best to sleep well at night.

The poor fellow was due a new pair of togs, I believe. His particular pair seemed bereft of stretch and were hanging, by the grace of God (at least the God of budgies and other natural wildlife) by the string alone. Even the string spanning his hips looked dubious, but I have to say I didn’t have a very close look.

We folk in the pool looked smugly at one another. Our swimsuits might have been gripping onto a few folds of flesh that we would rather have been left outside the dining area, but at least they were gripping onto something.

I quickly checked my own swimwear and cast a quick eye across the pool to the figure of my husband, resplendent in board shorts and rashie. His ensemble would have survived the Elizabethan era when budgies remained in their cages and women twittered about things that were not flying free.

- Linda Muller